Te Papa Tongarewa

As covered in the introduction blog, in this series we are going to discover Wellington. Today we are going to cover one of the most famous Museums in Wellington. Regarded as the symbol for Nationhood and Heritage, Arts and Culture, of New Zealand, the ‘Te Papa Tongarewa'.

'Te Papa Tongarewa', literally means ‘container of treasures'. The name is made up of two classical expressions used in Māori poetry and song.  Te Papa is New Zealand’s national museum, renowned for being bicultural, scholarly, innovative, and fun. Located at, 55 Cable Street, in the heart of the city is 10 minutes’ walk from Queens Wharf.

Te Papa is mostly divided into 2 categories. One is the shows representing the National cultures and traditions and the other part is the Exhibition. The cultural shows which are organized may vary depending upon the time of the year. They are generally performed depending on the seasons and popularity. These shows span across five areas: Art, History, Pacific, Māori, and Natural Environment. If you enjoy the culture or love in understanding cultures around the globe, then you won’t want to miss this. Te Papa has dynamic events and education programmes.

The exhibitions are interdisciplinary and interactive. The exhibitions are mostly cover the geographical history of the Island and its formation in the World Geography. The models and videos which show off the history are amazing.

The exhibitions may be briefly categorized into 2 parts.

First, is the geographical model which informs about the interior of the earth and the volcanoes which were responsible for the creation of the Islands.

Second, is about the animals that inhabit New Zealand. The exhibitions contains replica for most the animals along with Audio recording for most of the animals voice and a brief explanation for how they live.

In addition to all this, Te Papa also has thriving commercial enterprises, including a publishing division, conference operations, and retail stores. So if you want to spare some bugs to buy a memorabilia you won’t have to walk a great deal. Being large if you tried and feel hungry there is a nice café at the top floor to help you with some quick bite.

Hope you have a Good day out at the Te Papa.

Enjoy and have fun!